Tools and Methods for Security: Stimulating the Skill to Philosophize

Abstract

Finding optimal solutions to security issues is very difficult or impossible. Conflicting interests and values decide what has to be done. Every thinkable answer contains both risks and possibilities. I our effort to find solutions we have always to negotiate and make compromises. A dialectic process is necessary in security in order to identify significant interests and values, and to formulate principles and policies. Handling security issues and working for secure IT systems demand continuous adjustment to relevant values as well as the necessary personal skills and suitable group processes. Focusing on the method and making sure that the right way of proceeding has been adopted is the way to get satisfactory answers to the problems of IT security. The philosophical method of deliberative thinking seems to be the basis of such methods.